


As We Cast On Through These Mountains

by stardustedknuckles



Series: Beauyasha College AU [7]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: ALL THE FLUFF, College AU, F/F, Fluff, Ice Skating, and she needs to hear it, and to beau, but not enough to use the tag, jester is important to yasha, light emotional hurt/comfort, there's fjorester if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27948287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustedknuckles/pseuds/stardustedknuckles
Summary: In the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Beau and Yasha go out ice skating with Fjord and Jester. Yasha and Jester peel off for a quick break and have a heart to heart, and Yasha recognizes a pattern she knows how to help.And Beau's surprisingly bad at ice skating. Something about the inability to relax.Homebrew Advent Prompt challenge day 7: scarf
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Yasha, Jester Lavorre & Yasha
Series: Beauyasha College AU [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024825
Comments: 11
Kudos: 110





	As We Cast On Through These Mountains

Jester and Yasha sat on the bench at the edge of the outdoor rink, catching their breath and taking in the lights and the people surrounding them. Yasha's head rested against the top of the bench behind her, and the sky up past the decorated buildings surrounding them was clear. Yasha could make out a few stars in its depths, shallower as they were this close to the city. It was comforting, she thought, to have even just the handful of them here.

And it was comforting to have her friends here, too. Yasha sat up and turned her gaze back down to the thinning crowds fumbling around on the ice, locating the two others with them tonight. Fjord was still trying his hardest to explain to Beau how to relax into her movements, and as Yasha watched he braced Beau's arm with his own and pointed from his skates to hers in demonstration. Beau looked over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching her be very bad at this, and Yasha grinned remorselessly as Jester waved. Beau turned away again hurriedly and started shuffling, Fjord enthusiastic alongside her.

Yasha's smile remained as she pushed her hands deeper into the pockets of her coat and took another deep breath. The air all around smelled like damp and cold and cinnamon, the latter owing to the annual food and craft market set up along the border of the city's seasonal rink. They had spent their last hour of daylight browsing the little stalls with their warmth and their light and their handmade knickknacks, Beau's hand in hers and a kind of openness to her face that made Yasha feel warm in a way that differed from the heat lamps scattered about. She hadn't let herself think too hard about it, but it occurred to her now that in many ways, this had kind of been their first real date.

Beside her, Jester stirred and shifted closer to rest her head on Yasha's arm. In a gesture Yasha would have found unthinkable a few short months ago, she lifted it to let Jester lean in and let it dangle off her shoulder. She was almost lost again in the sounds around her when Jester spoke. "I really like you, Yasha."

She blinked in surprise down to look at her. Jester was watching the people before them with a faraway expression that didn't quite match her faint smile.

"Thank you." Yasha was uncertain but sincere. "I like you too. I'm very glad we're friends." She lifted her hand to tap it gently on the outside of Jester's coat sleeve. "What brought this on?"

Jester turned her face to Yasha, and there was a kind of hesitance there that looked out of place and made Yasha want to fix it. "I saw you guys, in the market. You were holding hands and didn't see us."

They had very much been in their own little world, that was true. But the gravity of it escaped Yasha. "Did something about it bother you?"

Jester sat up, more for concentration than agitation. "Not at all," she said emphatically. Her tail flicked once behind her as thought to underline her words. "I mean I knew you were like, together for real probably after Thanksgiving, but I guess I didn't think about what that meant until I saw you guys looking at each other." Her voice grew soft. "I didn't know Beau could look like that." She looked up at Yasha and seemed to rally herself. "I think I'm sad I won't get to see you and Beau as much next semester, now that you'll have each other and your own life together."

She said it like fact, like she'd already accepted that Yasha and Beau would move on and she had made a kind of resigned peace with it. "Ah," said Yasha. There was a snowflake in Jester's bangs where they peeked from under her pompom hat, and Yasha withdrew a hand to brush it away because she knew it would make Jester scrunch her face and giggle. She smiled back and leaned a little closer. "Why do you think you won't see us?"

Jester shrugged expressively, smile fading. "Beau's been staying with you a whole lot, and that's good because my dorm is so small and I'm really glad she has a home now, but all of our classes are in different buildings, and…" she trailed off, looking away. "It just won't be the same."

Yasha had gathered in her time spent with Jester that more drew her and Beau together than the sheer force of Jester's exuberant friendship. She didn't know much about the way Jester grew up, but the way she seemed to easily accept, if reluctantly, that the two of them would move on was something she had seen enough in Beau to recognize on sight.

If Beau's response to fear was to push people away to avoid being hurt, then Jester's seemed to be to hold people close for as long as she could and pick up the pieces after.

Affection and sorrow for two of the people she loved the most swelled inside of Yasha. "Jester," she said gently. Her large lavender eyes were rimmed indigo, whether from the cold or from something else unclear. "You are Beau's best friend. We are here tonight because you invited us, and I'm very glad." She looked over Jester's head and smiled. "And I know they are too. Just look at them."

Beau was moving at something closer to constant speed now, flipping Fjord off as he made circles around her and offered tips. They couldn't hear what Beau was saying, but there was no heat in her movements and she looked faintly pleased in spite of everything.

Yasha watched Jester taking them in with a small fond smile and spoke softly. "You're kind of at the center of all of us, I think."

Jester looked up at her. "Really?"

Yasha nodded. "I saw it when I transferred here. All of us fell in with either you or Beau first, and Beau wasn't in the habit of keeping her friends close."

An evening breeze sliced through the crowd, redenning Yasha's cheeks and giving Jester the excuse to disappear a little inside of her jacket collar - and it was an excuse, because cold meant about as much to her as it did to Beau. If Jester dressed for the cold, it was only because she could wear her favorite clothes without overheating.

"You were the one who made sure Beau and I kept coming back together," she reminded Jester. "I was afraid that if I showed too much interest I'd scare her off, so it was up to you."

Jester's mouth peeked over her collar. "That's what Beau was worried about too." She hugged herself a little tighter and smiled. "You were both so silly."

This wasn't exactly news to Yasha, but something about the ambiguity of the phrase caught her attention. "She was worried…that I was interested? Or that she was?"

Jester gave her a look of exaggerated pity. "Like I said. Silly." She jumped to her feet and grabbed Yasha's hands before Yasha could press any further, tugging her back out onto the ice. "Come on," she said. "The rink closes in half an hour and I'm not done yet."

Laughing, Yasha turned one of her skates to hold her ground and pulled back on Jester lightly. "Hold on," she said. "If you thought everything would change, was this…did you think this was the last time we would hang out like this?" She squeezed Jester's fingers through their gloves. "Did you think this was goodbye?"

Jester frowned in a very Beau-like manner and looked away. "I don't know! Maybe! I hoped not, but…just in case, you know?" She glanced up at Yasha and added, "I also just really wanted to see you guys the normal amount too."

Yasha had mercy and skated forward, tugging Jester along beside her as they made their way over the ice to Fjord and Beau. "Jester," she said. "I don't do people much." She kept her eyes ahead, the way she did when she knew Beau didn't want to be seen processing. "They're difficult and confusing and before I moved, well." Jester was watching her intently now, and Yasha could understand. She didn't talk much about before, partly because she wanted to move on completely and partly because it felt like if she shared it, it would fade.

She ignored that for now and said, "I don't take to people lightly, is all. You, Beau, all of you." She turned to smile at Jester. "You're stuck with me. Can you live with that?"

There was a time that light question wouldn't have been just an expression, and it pleased her as it always did to be reminded how things had changed in the last year.

Jester threw her arms wordlessly around Yasha, and only a distant childhood spent on ice kept her balanced to hold them up as she laughed and returned the hug. "You're welcome at the apartment any time," she told Jester, just to be sure. "And anywhere else we go."

Jester nodded hugely and made a face as Yasha reached out to adjust her hat.

"Fjord!" Yasha turned to see Beau closing in on them, looking over her shoulder with her arms out. "How the fuck do you stop?"

Fjord opened his mouth helplessly, and Yasha thought fast. She let go of Jester and stepped quickly to the side, reaching out. "Bend your knees, Beau," she commanded, and grabbed her hand. Beau complied on reflex and Yasha stepped in to follow the curve her momentum made before taking it over and turning backwards to pull her along instead. She felt a thrill of satisfaction at how easily her movements on ice had returned to her after so many years.

"What the fuck," Beau managed, and Yasha saw her starting to tense again as she tried to take control of her speed. Yasha scraped to a controlled stop and pulled Beau in close, stumbling a little but laughing as they recovered. Beau's residual stress melted and a moment later, she started to giggle too. It was a rewarding sound that made Yasha suddenly intensely aware of how colorful the lights were that surrounded them, how present she felt here on the ice with her friends in the city.

Beau's scarf had partially unwound, and Yasha reached to fix it. "There are easier ways to stop," she said, "but I like this one."

Beau's laughter had faded, but she was still smiling. She looked up at Yasha, pressed as she was against her chest and seeming, at least for a moment, disinclined to move away. "I like a challenge."

Yasha huffed. "Don't I know it." She leaned down and kissed Beau, a quick one meant to stay on this side of her aversion to being soft in public. Beau's face flushed dark in the floodlights above, but when she pulled away she kept Yasha's hand in hers and shuffled bright-eyed back to where Fjord and Jester were watching in surprise and delight, respectively.

Fjord pointed between them. "You two…?"

He was spared a bite from Beau by Jester's elbow to his arm. "Fjord! Don't ruin it!"

Yasha looked at them, bemused. "Was this a secret?"

Beau coughed into her fist. "Yeah man, where you been?" 

Fjord sputtered and waved a hand feebly. "I didn't know…I mean I knew you two were all…whatever about each other, but I didn't think _you_ knew!" He looked at Jester. "Did you?"

Jester was deeply unimpressed. "They were sharing a pretzel when we got here, Fjord."

"So?"

"Holding hands."

Fjord gestured emphatically. "They have been fucking for _four months_ , eating a pretzel together hardly seems out of the question."

Beau and Yasha exchanged a glance, and Yasha squeezed Beau's hand questioningly. Beau looked exasperated and embarrassed, but she was also trying not to smile when she squeezed back.

"Are we going to skate any more tonight or what?" She snapped at Fjord and Jester. Neither of them took notice of the tone, which was the point.

"I am," Jester said. "Come on, Beau." Beau wobbled and let go of Yasha's hand to follow behind, and she gave a little wave when Beau glanced back apologetically. Yasha couldn't help but notice Beau gliding a little more smoothly. Probably something had relaxed her a little.

Fjord watched them go, sighing fondly. "I'm real glad for you," he said to Yasha. They started forward slowly, just gliding through ice gone gritty with hundreds of skates in the last hour.

"Thank you," Yasha replied. "It's nice."

"Beau?"

She returned his teasing smile. "Beau, but also…I feel like I've kind of gained a whole family somehow. Without even trying."

Fjord chuckled. "Yeah, I know what you mean for sure."

Yasha slid her hands in her pockets and they skated in comfortable silence for a minute. "So…" Fjord began. "You guys will spend Christmas together then?"

Yasha swallowed the little flare that rose in her every time she thought about it. "Not the day of, exactly. She'll go home for her family's annual affair, and then we'll have our day on the 28th."

Fjord frowned. "You gonna be okay spending the holiday alone?"

"I will," said Yasha, and it was true. Beau might not be with her on the day itself, but she would return the 26th, take a day to decompress from being around her family, and then they would have their own celebration. She crossed her skates in and out below, giving her an excuse to look down as she smiled. "It's still looking like it'll be the happiest holiday I've ever had."

She could feel Fjord's slow, warm grin from beside her in a way that reminded Yasha much of Caduceus. "I think that's wonderful," he said. "And I think it's probably true for Beau, too."

The idea warmed Yasha more than she could say, as did the evident care for Beau in Fjord's voice. Beau was so loved, by so many. Yasha counted it a gift to be among them, this group of people that had taken one look at Beau and glimpsed something of the facet in her that had drawn Yasha that first summer night. Five months since they met, four since their arrangement began, such as it was.

It seemed like it should feel too soon to fall this hard, after everything. She knew if it did, if there were another reality in which this pace were impossible, nobody could blame her. Possibly not even herself.

But it didn't feel like rushing. It felt like slipping into old skating patterns, like the end of a story Yasha already knew and could see foreshadowed as it neared. It just felt right.

As they approached the gate leading back to the skate rental building, Yasha heard the attendant giving the fifteen minute warning. She glanced around to find Jester and Beau, spotted them out in the middle where it was less crowded. There was no doubt that Jester was getting in one last lesson before calling it a night.

She turned to Fjord. "One more lap?"

"Works for me."

**Author's Note:**

> There's like a single mention of a scarf in here, yet the scarf is definitely what brought this on. Trust me, there was a whole train of thought that came from that word alone, it just evolved eight times before I sat down to write and then it had a couple more evolutions just to keep me guessing. The aura of scarf.


End file.
